Walking Tour: Punk DC

Join us and Off the Mall Tours to learn about the history of punk music in DC. This paid tour ends at the Library for their free rooftop show!

In the 1980s, punks reacted to issues they diagnosed in Reagan-era Washington: a city where hippies were turning into yuppies and an increasingly conformist, soulless government and society was taking over. But as JR Rhine writes in the Fall 2021 Washington History article "The Free Space: Ian MacKaye and DC's hardcore, Straight Edge Scene," DC was primed to be a hotspot for punk:

“DC proved to be the ideal place to incubate a punk scene. ‘You can have very powerful, creative forces in this town. It’s a petri dish for great ideas. They may not be sustainable, but you can always grow something here because—nobody’s looking.’”

On this DC History Center/Off the Mall Tours collaboration, explore Downtown, where the original 9:30 Club and other venues hosted bands Minor Threat and Bad Brains. Discover the major contributors to the DC punk scene, what made it distinct, and its lasting impact on local music today.

The one-hour tour begins at the Gallery Place Metro Station exit at F and 7th Streets and ends at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, where you can join the crowd for the DC Punk Archive’s FREE rooftop show at 6:00 pm. Check out the DC Punk Archive on the DC Public Library website.

RESERVATIONS: Required and limited to twenty-five (25) participants. If cost is a barrier to this program, please email us at programs@dchistory.org to discuss alternative options.
LOCATION: Gallery Place Metro Station exit at F and 7th Streets, ending at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
DURATION: Approximately one hour covering 0.5 miles in downtown DC.
REFUNDS: If you are no longer able to attend this tour, refunds are available on a case-by-case basis via email to programs@dchistory.org. You will be responsible for the fees.

ACCESSIBILITY

Please note that this tour covers about several blocks of downtown DC. If you require accommodations for a disability, please email the DC History Center at programs@dchistory.org with your request as soon as possible for us to discuss options. Street noise and navigability can be challenging. We are committed to making events accessible for all participants.

TOUR GUIDE

KATIE KIRKPATRICK is the founder of Off the Mall Tours. She is proud to call herself a DC resident since 2002. She moved to the capital after college for graduate school, and then worked in government for many years. However, history was always her first love. She started her touring career by giving historical ghost tour pub crawls and discovered a passion for sharing the varied and layered history of the capital area. So, she started her own company, drawing upon her interests in unique stories, a flair for costuming, and her love of DC.